Description of Advisory Business
Knuff & Company, a Delaware limited liability company, was formed in July 2018 as an
investment firm with a focus on the complex needs of high net worth individuals, families and
institutions. Knuff & Company offers financial planning and discretionary account
management services to Unified Managed Account Clients (“UMA Clients”). Knuff &
Company also provides discretionary investment management services to Event Value Fund,
L.P., a Delaware limited partnership (the “Fund”). Unless otherwise indicated, UMA Clients
and the Fund are collectively referred to herein as “Client” or “Clients.” Knuff & Company’s
principal place of business is in Foster City, California.
We value the needs and interests of our Clients and endeavour to place them ahead of our own.
We believe Clients seek and deserve: an advisor/advocate they can trust (not occasionally, but
always); objective, independent, and conflict-free advice; tailored long-term wealth
management solutions; active engagement in and understanding of the management and
stewardship of their wealth and economic well-being; independent critical thinking;
accountability; and transparency. We believe our employees seek and deserve a dynamic and
rewarding environment that professionally and personally cultivates, challenges, educates, and
empowers them.
Services
For UMA Clients, Knuff & Company tailors its services to each UMA Client’s individual needs
and offers two broadly classified but essential investment services: Wealth Planning and
Portfolio Management. Our Wealth Planning services include financial planning, tax planning,
inheritance planning, multi-generational trust and estate planning, charitable/philanthropic
planning, and assistance with transition/succession planning for family enterprises. Our
Portfolio Management services consist of both discretionary and non-discretionary services.
Our discretionary Portfolio Management services include asset allocation, portfolio
construction, securities selection, and considers Client’s preferences related to
sustainable/socially-responsible (i.e., “clean conscience”) investing. Our non-discretionary
Portfolio Management services include offered advice on real assets and alternative investments
(e.g., pooled investment vehicles such as private equity funds and venture capital funds). In
connection with our investment services, we also provide financial reporting. Knuff &
Company works with each UMA Client’s legal, tax, philanthropic and other advisors to design
the appropriate financial plans and legal structures, as necessary.
For the Fund, Knuff & Company provides discretionary investment management services
pursuant to investment objectives, strategies, and investment terms as described in the Fund’s
offering documents. Knuff & Company has full authority over investment decisions for the
Fund, and neither tailors its services to the Fund’s investors (each, a “Limited Partner”) nor
provides them with the right to specify, restrict, or influence the Fund’s operations, investment
objectives or investment decisions.
Penny Knuff
Heather B. Knuff (“Penny”) is a Managing Partner, the Chief Investment Officer, and a co-
owner of Knuff & Company. Penny has dedicated her entire 35-year career to the profession of
wealth management — a passion kindled and nurtured by her late grandfather who helped
transition the family out of the Brooklyn brewery business during the onset of Prohibition into
New York City real estate, and eventually into securities investments in the 1940s, which he
actively managed on behalf of the family until his death in 2003.
Starting as an administrative assistant at the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company (“The
Boston Company”) in 1989, Penny was promoted to the role of Assistant Vice President and
Junior Portfolio Manager within three years and mentored by Senior Portfolio Manager
Raymond Beaton, one of the first people to receive the Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA”)
designation. In 1994, Penny earned her CFA designation and accepted a job as a Vice President
and Portfolio Manager at Fiduciary Trust Company International in New York.
While at Fiduciary Trust, Penny was mentored by, and worked alongside, several accomplished
and respected investment professionals, including Larry Huntington, Anne Tatlock, Jim
Goodfellow, and the late Jeremy Biggs. In 1996, she was promoted to Senior Vice President
and Portfolio Manager, making her the youngest person to hold this title in Fiduciary Trust’s
history. In 1998, after four years at Fiduciary Trust, Penny relocated to Boston to be closer to
her husband,
and accepted a position as a Security Analyst and Portfolio Manager at Welch &
Forbes, working alongside Arthur Hodges. Although she was appreciative of the opportunity
to develop her security analysis skills, within a year, Penny had determined that Welch &
Forbes was not a good long-term fit for her so, in 1999, she returned to Fiduciary Trust, as a
Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager.
In 2001, Fiduciary Trust was acquired by Franklin Resources, which resulted in Penny being
asked to relocate to northern California to head up a new Fiduciary Trust office that was being
established within Franklin Resources’ headquarters in San Mateo. In 2009, Penny was
promoted to Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager, a position she held until she
tendered her resignation in June of 2018.
During the 18 years that Penny was the San Mateo office’s Senior Portfolio Manager, assets
under her management grew from $200 million (the amount that followed her to California) to
$1.7 billion at the end of 2017. In the process, Penny became Fiduciary Trust’s largest manager
of assets, highest producer of revenues, and most significant contributor to its profit margin.
After devoting 24 years to Fiduciary Trust, its clients, and fellow employees, Penny realized
how much things had changed (and remained the same), both inside and outside of her industry
and corporate environment, and determined that she could better serve wealth management
clients under a different, more dynamic, family-office-oriented business structure. The result
is Knuff & Company LLC.
Given her professional experience, aptitude, integrity, strong sense of fiduciary duty, and
passion, as well as her appreciation of and subsequent involvement in the challenges associated
with her own family’s multi-generational wealth management, Penny believes she is uniquely
well informed, credentialed, and suited to helping other families and institutions manage their
wealth.
Will Knuff
William G. Knuff, III (“Will”) is a Managing Partner, the Head of Research, Chief Compliance
Officer, and a co-owner of Knuff & Company, as well as the Portfolio Manager of the Fund.
Will has 34 years of experience in the financial industry, including asset management,
investment banking, research, and private equity.
Prior to the merger between Knuff & Company and Event Capital Partners LLC in March 2019,
Will was the Managing General Partner of Event Capital Partners LLC and Portfolio Manager
of the firm’s private fund – both of which he established in April 2011. From December 2005
to July 2009, Will worked at Tano Capital LLC (“Tano”), an international private equity firm
where he helped launch and manage the firm and its first dedicated India fund. Starting at Tano
as a Director, he was promoted to Managing Director in January 2007 and participated on the
investment committee, served as a Director on the boards of several affiliated Tano funds,
served as head of investor relations, and served on the board of two portfolio companies. Prior
to Tano, Will worked at Sutter Capital Management LLC and Sutter Holding Company
(collectively, “Sutter”) as a Principal and Chairman/CFO, respectively. At Sutter, he co-
managed investments in real estate limited partnerships, distressed debt, and equities. During
this time, he also served on the board of Prandium, Inc. (former parent of national restaurant
chains, including El Torito and Chi-Chi’s), working with turnaround specialists Alvarez &
Marsal, Inc. to facilitate its orderly liquidation and eventual dissolution. Prior to Sutter, Will
worked in investment banking (corporate finance and M&A) at Robertson Stephens, Inc.,
serving clients in the biotechnology, consumer, financial services, industrial, and
telecommunications sectors.
Will served as a Director of Diversified Risk Insurance Brokers, Inc. (a subsidiary of HUB
International) from January 2004 to June 2005. He served as a Director of Prandium, Inc. from
July 2002 to June 2006. He served as a Director of ABG Motors Pvt. Ltd. from November 2007
to July 2009. He served as a Director of C-Brite, Inc. from September 2006 to September 2009.
Will also served on the board of the Mid-Peninsula Boys & Girls Club Foundation, as a Director
from January 2009 to December 2009, and as President from January 2010 to June 2018.
Wrap Fee Programs
Knuff & Company does not participate in wrap fee programs.
Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2023, Knuff & Company managed approximately $308,500,000 in
regulatory assets under management on a discretionary basis. Knuff & Company does not
currently manage any assets on a non-discretionary basis.